YouTube: What MySpace can teach Google about copyright

Will Google CEO Schmidt's "wait for the tools" banter on media giant Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement legal claim at the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital conference this week be his famous last words?SEE: Google CEO tows Google line at D5Think Schmidts' recent "Big Brother" musings reflect a Google disregard for the privacy of others?

Will Google CEO Schmidt's "wait for the tools" banter on media giant Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement legal claim at the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital conference this week be his famous last words?

Think Schmidts' recent "Big Brother" musings reflect a Google disregard for the privacy of others? Schmidt's condescending retort to Viacom illustrates a Google rules belief, no matter who or what tries to spoil the Google free content party.

Why is fearless Google and its fearless leader so smug? Why not!

After all, if the leading search engine need merely announce a quarter baked "open" software effort designed purely to foster its worldwide dominance--Google Gears--to receive near unanimous acclaim, as well as cheers for the end of its nemesis, Microsoft, why wouldn't it truly believe it IS King of the World, and act accordingly.

What is Google's YouTube "tools" problem?

Is Google not the "best" engineering run company in the world? Is Google not staffed by better than rocket scientists?

Why is the top social networking play, MySpace, run by "old media" News Corp. able, and willing, to protect the copyright of the content of others, BUT the top video sharing play, YouTube, run by GOOGLE, insists it is stuck in the copyright protection "tools" mud.

If Google can not muster the brain power or technology to implement existing, readily available copyright protection screening processes, such as MySpace has done, why should anyone have any confidence in Google's technological capabilities in any software endeavor, such as Google Apps.

The truth of the matter, of course, is that Google can do the right copyright thing, if it wanted to, but it doesn't have any intention of doing right by content owners.

Why does Google continue to sing the tools are on their way song? Because it is Google doing the singing, and any Google song is music to the world's ears.

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